//------------------------------// // Grogar's Return III: Graduation // Story: Valiant // by Scipio Smith //------------------------------// Grogar's Return III: Graduation “That’s it, hold it right there,” Sketch said, holding a sketchbook in his forehooves as he sat down in a corner of the old cake shop bathed in orange light. Kenzi had assumed a coquettish pose, her hips thrust out, one tiny hand on the back of her head. She had turned her hair blue and cut short, save for two long braids hanging down the sides of her face. “I’m still amazed that you can do that so easily,” Mind Map murmured. He was a pale yellow unicorn with light blue eyes and a golden mane that hung down over one of his eyes, obscuring it completely. He and Sketch stood together in the corner joined in admiration of Kenzi. It was situation that she was not in the least bit unhappy with. “Not even changelings can partially alter their appearance at will like that.” Kenzi smiled. “Well, yes, I am very special. And very awesome, too.” “Hold that pose,” Sketch said. “Stop moving around. Stay still for a second. Can you stop beating your wings?” “Do you want me to drop to the ground and break something?” “Okay, but don’t move anything else,” Sketch said, picking up a pencil in his mouth and beginning to draw rapidly. “So you’re really the only fairy in Equestria?” Mind Map asked. “Yeah,” Kenzi murmured. “It kinda sucks, honestly.” “Stop talking!” Sketch growled as best he could with a pencil in his mouth. Kenzi rolled her eyes. “Can I breathe?” The pencil dropped from Sketch’s lips as he said, “No!” “Don’t you think she’s a little short for you, dude?” Rosethorn asked as he wandered over, a red flush to his cheeks. “And, y’know, the wrong species.” “Eww, gross!” Kenzi said. “Is that really what you think? Ugh!” “This is art,” Sketch said with a touch of asperity in his voice. “And unique art, too. Just because you’re obsessed with the mares doesn’t mean everypony else is.” “I am not obsessed with the mares,” Rosethorn said. “I just like to look at them.” “None of them seem to be looking back,” Kenzi observed. “I’m just saying,” Rosethorn said, as if he hadn’t heard her. “That you’re wasting your time with this fairy when there’s a real work of art right over there.” He gestured towards Sentinel, standing on her own in the centre of the room while the party flowed around her. “You like Sentinel?” Mind Map asked, sounding and looking confused. “You don’t?” Rosethorn sounded equally surprised. “You grew up with this mare and you never noticed how cute she is?” Mind Map shook his head. “And…I don’t think Sentinel thinks about that kind of stuff. Since we were kids, she’s only really cared about Greatheart.” “More to the point,” Sweetpea said as she wandered over to join them. “You wouldn’t have a shot even if she was interested.” Sweetpea was a pegasus of, well, pea green, with a corn-yellow mane and golden eyes. “You think so?” “Dude, I just met the two of you and even I know she’s way out of your league,” Kenzi said. “She is not,” Rosethorn replied defensively. “Then make your move,” Sweetpea challenged. Rosethorn opened his mouth, but no words came out. He looked at Sentinel, then at the four ponies and the fair watching him eagerly. “I don’t feel like it right now.” Sketch and Sweetpea started to laugh. Kenzi turned to Mind Map. “What’s Sentinel’s deal, anyway? She seems as grim as Thunder Shield.” Mind Map shrugged. “Since I’ve known her, she’s always been like that. But I know that she and Greatheart will always be there if I need help.” “She does sound a lot like Thunder,” Kenzi said. “You actually like that guy?” Sweetpea asked. “He acted like a jerk before.” “Yeah, he can be…that,” Kenzi admitted. “But, once you get to know him there isn’t anypony better to have watching your back.” Over on the other side of the room, Greatheart was surrounded by a whole crowd of other trainees. Kenzi had been introduced to most of them by Blueberry Pie, but already some of that blur of introductions was becoming indistinct in her memory, and she struggled to remember the names of all those whom Greatheart was lecturing: Rock Salt, Strong Shield…Suri? “…we’ll be able to start changing things in this country,” Greatheart was saying. “Once we graduate, we can alter the way the guard works. No more ranging, then going back to base. We can retake Equestria from the night and the monsters.” “You really think that’s possible?” Rock Salt asked. “After all this time?” “It has been a hundred years since Princess Twilight died,” Greatheart insisted. “Ponykind has regained its dignity since then, we just have to stop being afraid just because we don’t have a princess to lead us anymore. But we each have four good legs, the hearts that have carried us through our training, the bonds with one another we have forged here. If we work together, then-“ “You can all hang together, too,” Dusk Shine drawled. “Face it, Greatheart,” he loaded the name with enough cynical disdain to last a month. “Nopony in the military is going to listen to some punk kid fresh out of training. The chances are you’ll die years before you have a chance to make a difference. The only thing any smart, talented pony can do is join the Military Police, where you have the honour of serving the First Minister and the safety of never leaving Canterlot.” Greatheart bared his teeth. “So you’re saying we should just give up? Accept that things will never get better?” Dusk blinked. “Well, yes. I thought I’d made that clear.” “Oh, no, excuse me,” Mind Map muttered as he tried to get over to Greatheart. “Well I won’t accept that, not now, not ever!” Greatheart yelled. “I’ll stay alive so I can protect this country with all four hooves, and I’ll save Equestria if I have to drag it to a better place with my teeth!” “Oh, will you shut up?” Dusk Shine snapped. “I’m sick of this meaningless drivel you keep spouting! You’re just some ignorant hick from nowhere who has no idea of what the hay is going on in Equestria! I’m a prince of the Crystal Empire, so when I tell you something isn’t possible then maybe you should take me seriously!” Greatheart advanced on Dusk, his wings extended. “I’ll show you who should be taken seriously.” “Um, Greatheart,” Mind Map stood between the prince and the enraged pegasus. “Perhaps we shouldn’t fight on the night before graduation.” “Get out of the way, Mind Map,” Greatheart growled. “Greatheart,” Sentinel’s voice was cold as ice. “Stop this foolishness, at once.” “Ugh, sis,” Greatheart began, before he was abruptly silenced by a glare from Sentinel’s icy eyes. “You should both,” she declared. “Be ashamed of yourselves.” Dusk Shine bowed his head, and for a moment Kenzi thought that Greatheart would do the same, before he slammed his hoof down upon the floor. “I won’t die,” Greatheart declared. “I’m going to survive no matter what, because I have a dream that I have to stay alive for. And I will become General of the Royal Guard someday. And I will alter the fate of Equestria. That is my vow! A great many of the other cadets cheered his pronouncement. One who didn’t was Red Delicious, who loomed up over Greatheart and the others. “That’ll do, now,” he said. “This is supposed to be a party, not a rally.” “It’s fine,” Greatheart said. “I’m done now.” But Kenzi noticed that he and Dusk kept their distance from one another for the rest of the night. As the chariot descended through the clouds towards Ponyville, Luna could not help but notice how nervous Celestia looked. Not for the first time, Luna wondered if the calm, serene Celestia whom she had known in her youth and again after her redemption was not gone beyond all possibility of recall. Was this all there was, a grieving mother afraid of the world beyond her own door? Afraid of her own heart, afraid to love again? Luna prayed it was not so. Come back to me, big sister. I cannot do this all alone. “A wall?” Celestia asked, her voice soft but not without concern. “Why is there a wall around Ponyville? When did that happen?” “Sixty years ago,” Luna replied tersely. “Equestria is not as safe as it once was. Much has changed while you slept, big sister.” “I see,” Celestia murmured. She said nothing else until the chariot touched the ground. Spike, his great wings making the air hum with their beating, landed heavily beside them. The guards responsible for their safe arrival were sufficiently skilled to set down the two princesses directly in front of Thunder Shield and Kenzi, who both bowed as Luna and Celestia dismounted. Luna regarded her student and her ward carefully, reading their moods as only she knew how. Thunder was clad in armour, the armour of Equestria, not of his own land, and though his face was a mask of diplomatic expressionlessness she could tell from his stance and from the look in his eyes that he was not happy. Not that that, in itself, was an unusual or remarkable occurrence, but this was not his usual resentment of the world at large. Something in Ponyville had upset him, and from the way he had looked at Luna before bowing he plainly thought that it ought to upset her too. Perhaps now he will begin to understand. She had sent Thunder here, as she had dragged Celestia here, for more reasons than she had told either of them. Both of them needed to get out of the stifling confines of the palace, both of them needed to begin to live, both of them needed to move forward from their grief but Luna’s concerns were, in truth, larger than the two of them. Equestria needed Celestia to see what it had become, to see what she had allowed her little ponies to sleepwalk into. And Luna needed Thunder to understand what Equestria was, so that he could help her make it something better once again. Kenzi, on the other hoof, was not upset. She seemed…concerned. She had turned her hair blonde for the occasion, doing it up in an elegant bun with idle strands of golden hair falling from it around her face, and she had foregone her usual choice of outfit in favour of a simple white gown. She kept glancing towards Thunder. She was worried about him, then, about what he would say or do. “Rise, both of you,” Celestia said softly. “Is everything satisfactory?” Luna asked. Thunder’s eyes flashed. “It is the best that we could make it, Your Highnesses.” “Has the First Minister arrived?” Celestia asked. Thunder nodded. “Lieutenant Stargazer has already taken him to the parade ground for the ceremony, Your Highnesses.” “Why must I be here, Luna?” Celestia asked plaintively. “The First Minister can-“ “The First Minister does not sit on the throne, sister, you do,” Luna said, a little more sharply than she had intended to. “Lead the way, Thunder Shield.” Thunder did as he was bidden without another word, Kenzi fluttering beside him. Celestia walked slowly, but Thunder never moved too quickly or too far ahead. Spike hung back, watching warily, his head and long neck turning this way and that as he guarded the two princesses. Luna kept pace with her sister, her eyes fixed upon Celestia’s face. “It will be all right,” Luna insisted. “You will enjoy being amongst your people again.” “Perhaps,” Celestia replied, sounding deeply unconvinced. They were let through the gates without challenge – something which made Thunder snort – and he led them across Ponyville. The ordinary citizens, those who were out of doors, stopped to stare. None of them had ever seen Princess Celestia before in their lives. Probably there were a few who did not even know who she was. They bowed respectfully, but whispers followed them as they passed. “Would you not like them to know you, Celestia,” Luna whispered. “Did you not always wish to be closer to your subjects.” “That was before that closeness hurt me so,” Celestia murmured in reply. She looked away from Luna, and as she did so she cried out so terribly that Luna feared she had been struck by some assassin’s dart. But it was not a shriek of physical pain so much as it was a cry of distress, like a bird returning to her nest and find all the eggs smashed to pieces. Thunder had frozen, and Luna guessed that this was what had upset him, too. She followed Celestia’s gaze, and soon she understood. The library, Twilight’s library, had been converted into a storehouse for the use of the Royal Guard. The shrine to learning had become a temple to war, the living tree now a housing for the instruments of death. Spike bellowed in anger at the sight of it, to see the home that he and Twilight had filled with so much warmth now become nothing more than a cold, grim weapons locker. “It can’t be,” Celestia murmured. “What have they done? What have they done with Twilight’s home?” “As I said,” Luna replied coldly. “Much has changed while you have slept.” “But, they can’t do this,” despite the depth of his voice, the gravelly growl that suffused his every word, Spike sounded like a baby once again as he spoke now in disbelief. “They can’t do this to Twilight-“ “Twilight is dead,” Luna snapped. “And while you mourned her your tears blinded you to what was happening across Equestria!” If Luna sounded angry it was because she was angry. She had carried this for years, this mixture of impotent outrage and resentment. She had had to watch this happening, unable to prevent it because Celestia fixed her seal ony any documents she was given by whichever interchangeable, grasping, mendacious First Minister happened to be in office this year. She had never been allowed to grieve for Twilight, dearly though she had loved her, because Celestia had never stopped grieving. She had had to bear the weight of Equestria on her shoulders and every time a piece of old Equestria had been lost Luna had had to feel it as a personal failure because those who should have helped her bear the weight had preferred to dwell on past sorrows than to face their present troubles. Well they had seen it now, and by stars and moonlight she was going to let them know just what a place Equestria was these days. “You knew,” Celestia said accusatorily. “You knew about this.” Luna noticed that Thunder and Kenzi, who had been wisely keeping clear of this quarrel, had both begun to listen more intently. “I did,” Luna said. “How could you let this happen?” Spike demanded. “Better to ask how I could have prevented it,” Luna replied. “This is not an isolated case; for all that it is egregious. Come. There is more for you both to see.” Thunder and Kenzi began to lead on once more, leading the two princesses and the hulking dragon through ponyville and out to what would, once, have been the outskirts of town. Now the same wall encircled it, but even so the buildings fell away. Unlike in the old days, they were not replaced by any trees. “Is this…” Celestia murmured. “No, it cannot be. Sweet Apple Acres?” “Now it is simply called the parade ground,” Luna muttered darkly as they stood on the edge of the large open square, an Equestrian flag hanging limp in the still afternoon air. A hundred Royal Guard cadets, or perhaps a few more, stood in ranks before a large wooden dais. Already on the dais stood the captain of this cadet company, Mayor Scootaloo – who rather sat in her wheelchair – and the First Minister, attended by some members of the Military Police. Luna fancied that he looked a little worried. Good. It is high time you remembered that you answer to a higher power. Now that the princesses could find their way to the dais quite adequately, Thunder and Kenzi dropped back, following rather than leading now. Spike sat down by the side of the decorated wooden stand, gazing down at all the tiny ponies in their armour, while Luna brushed past the captain and the minister in order to greet Scootaloo. “Scootaloo! It is wonderful to see you again.” “It’s great to see you too, Princess Luna,” Scootaloo said with a smile. “Though it might be for the last time.” “Do not say that, Scootaloo, do not even think it,” Luna said. “I’m over a hundred years old, Princess, we both know I don’t have long left in me,” Scootaloo replied. “I’ve had a good gallop. No regrets.” Luna chuckled. “If you can truly mean that, then you are fortunate indeed.” She could still remember, with perfect clarity, when she had first walked in Scootaloo’s dreams and soothed her nightmares. She could still remember teaching Scootaloo to walk in dreams. She could still remember sitting together as they watched Rainbow Dash’s final performance as captain of the Wonderbolts. No regrets. “The only thing I wish is that Rainbow Dash could have said the same,” Scootaloo said, a touch of melancholy entering her face and voice. “But she had too many regrets.” “As they all did,” Luna replied. Scootaloo nodded. “Princess Luna, I have a couple of bottles of Sweet Apple cider in my desk, from when Apple Bloom still worked the farm. Probably some of the last Sweet Apple left, now that the farm is…this. I’d be honoured to share them with you and Princess Celestia once the ceremony is over, to toast old times.” Luna glanced back to where Celestia stood over First Minister Ordered Regulations, listening to him try to weasel his way around Celestia’s outrage. “I cannot speak for Celestia, but I will gladly share a glass with you. I shall look forward to it, Madame Mayor.” Luna wandered back over to her sister. “Your Highness,” the First Minister was saying. “I understand that you are upset-“ “Upset?” Celestia exclaimed. “I am outraged that-“ “But perhaps this is a conversation that might wait until the ceremony is complete?” Minister Order suggested silkily. Luna would have preferred to have watched him called out on the carpet right then and there, but Celestia nodded. “Very well. We shall continue this conversation later, in private.” She sounded stern, but Luna wondered just how much of that sternness would survive the day. It was not often she disliked Celestia’s forgiving nature, but this was such a time. Then the graduation ceremony began, and most of it passed by Luna in a blur. A band played some martial music, the graduating cadets performed some close order drill, and the captain gave a speech so full of boilerplate that Luna tuned him out halfway through his first sentence. She did pay attention when the names of the top ten graduating cadets were read out, and the cadets themselves invited to step forward: Sentinel, Spiral, Cloudburst, Red Delicious, Greatheart, Dusk Shine, Blueberry Pie, Stratos, Skywatch, and Sonnet. Most likely they would all join the Military Police, the top graduates usually did. Luna studied them, the next generation of the First Minister’s henchponies: they seemed capable, brave, trustworthy even. No doubt power would corrupt them soon enough. Then it was time for Celestia to make her speech, except that she was not saying anything. She stood in front of everypony, the notes held in the grip of her magic, and said nothing. Celestia glanced wordlessly at Luna, who took the cue cards in her own telekinesis and stepped forward, even as Celestia retreated. Luna glanced down at the speech the First Minister had prepared for Celestia. More boilerplate. She glanced at Thunder and Kenzi, then at the waiting cadets, then dropped the cards. It was time for these young ponies to hear the truth. “When you have lived as long as I have,” Luna said. “Still less, as long as my sister has, everypony begins to look young. But I look at you, here, today, and I remember that you are young in truth, not just by comparison with a pony as old as me. “You are young, and just setting out on your life’s journey. You have completed your training, but you have barely begun to live. Where you will go, where destiny will take you, not even I can say. All I can do is implore you to remember one thing: every action has consequence. “That is something we sometimes forget, here in Equestria. For we are very fortunate in the land we live in, there is almost always a safety net for any failure, any error, even any catastrophe. Bound together in friendship and harmony, we help each other through the rough patches of life, even as we share in the joys of the smoothe. “But even in Equestria there comes a time for all of us when there is no safety net. There is nopony to take our hooves, nopony to make all our troubles disappear. There comes a time in the life of every pony, no matter how high or powerful, when we must face the consequences of our actions, however great or small those consequences may be. “So I implore you, as you pass from being cadets to guards, from being children to adults: think carefully about what you are doing. Consider the consequences. If you do, and strive ever to do the right thing for your friends and for Equestria as a whole, then I have no doubt that you will leave this world a better place than you found it.” They began to stamp their hooves, some more reluctantly than others. The First Minister in particular was stamping very reluctantly indeed. Luna might have said something to him, but before she could she heard the sound of thunder echoing across the clear sky. Except the sky was not clear any more. It was darkening rapidly, dark clouds appearing from nowhere to spread across Ponyville. Spike growled, Celestia’s eyes were wide with confusion, the First Minister was trembling. “What is this?” Luna murmured. With a roar, a host of stratons descended from the storm clouds, fangs bared and wings beating. They looked like dragons, small dragons with yellow eyes and no dexterity in their foreclaws, which were lumpen and misshapen things. Howling, they swept down out of the black and fell upon the cadets, scattering them in all directions. Beyond, Luna could see more of the monsters descending on the town as well. Ponies rode some of the monsters, ponies of all three races, directing the assault. Luna bared her teeth in anger, her horn glowing as she summoned her magic. “Thunder, get Celestia out of here! I will-“ A bolt of black lightning shot down from out of the clouds, striking near Luna’s hooves. A great wave of energy erupted from the point of the lightning strike, passing harmlessly over Luna and Celestia but blasting everypony else off the wooden dais in all directions: Thunder, Kenzi, Scootaloo, the First Minister and his escort, the cadet captain, all tossed aside like unwanted dolls with cries of pain and horror. Celestia and Luna were left alone, surrounded by a dome of black energy that blinded Luna to anything that might be going on outside. Luna fire a beam of magic at the barrier, but it did nothing. “Trapped!” Luna snarled. “Whoever you are, whatever you want, come out and face me!” “But of course, I wouldn’t dream of doing anything else,” a voice that Luna knew all too well answered her call, and Luna saw a patch of shadows break away from the barrier and slink towards them, shadows clinging to a shape within, a shape which, as it became visible, made Luna’s blood chill. “Now then, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna,” Grogar said mockingly. “Shall we pick up where we left off, oh so very long ago?” The Tyrant of Tambelon had returned.